Achieving Worldwide Compliance in Dioxins and POPs Analysis

Concerns over food and feed export safety, persistent organic pollutants (POPs), as well as environmental contamination, have grown rapidly in the last decade, resulting in stringent regulatory oversight. The Thermo Scientific DFS Magnetic Sector GC-HRMS is a double focusing system that enables regulatory compliance with any governmental dioxins, PCB, or PBDE method, whether based in the U.S., E.U., or Japan. Make the choice that has already earned the trust of the analytical community: For quantitative and routine analysis of dioxins and POPs, the DFS Magnetic Sector GC-HRMS continues to set the gold standard in providing ultimate confidence, superior performance, and robustness.

Regulations and analytical methods

Due to their toxicity and prevalence in the environment, dioxins, furans, and PCBs are subject to worldwide regulations. These regulations are based on risk assessments of dioxins, furans, and PCBs, of which several have been conducted at both the international (e.g., WHO (JECFA)) and European (e.g., EFSA) levels.

Scientific experts have critically examined published toxicological studies of individual PCBs, PCDDs, and PCDFs that were assessed using different animal species. These expert groups sought to identify the level at which no adverse toxicological effect is evidenced in animals. To achieve this goal, the most sensitive measurement technology currently available- namely, GC/MS- was used.

Magnetic Sector High Resolution GC/MS has been employed for more than two decades in food and environmental testing and is therefore considered to be the “gold standard” in this field. This is especially true for the challenging analysis of dioxins and furans (PCDD/Fs), which requires high sensitivity and accuracy, as well as the ability to identify these contaminants in complex sample types such as soil.